Shoe and process of making same



Nov. 9 1926.

P. BRAUNER ET AL SHOE AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME Filed August '7, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A V Nov. 9 1926. 1,606,055

P. BRAUNER ET AL SHOE AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME Filed August 7, 1924 2 SheetsSheet 2 Irrue 2170 Patented Nov. 9, 1926.

PINCUS BRAUNER AND HARRY G. CALEF, F HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

Application filed August 7, 1924. Serial No. 730,593.

In the manufacture of shoes to which a wooden heel is to be attached, one of the well known processes is to bevel the edge portions of the heel part of the sole and form transverse shoulders at the ends of the beveled portion to permit the side edges of the heel to bear directly against the upper, and its breast edge to bear against the shoulder at each side, this operation being known as cutting on the heel.

While machines for performing this operation have been produced, and used to some extent, nevertheless this operation is, to a very large extent, performed with a hand knife and, as thus performed, is expensive and requires the services of a skilled workman. While, in the manufacture of McKay sewed shoes and of turn shoes having nailed heel seats, which are not sewed 2 about the heel, the same degree of skill is not required in cutting on the heel as in cutting on a heel for a turn shoe having a sewed heel seat, as there are no stitches the cutting of which must be avoided, yet, in such 5 shoes, almost the same degree of careis necessary in performing this operation as with the shoes having a sewed heel seat, so that the operations in either case are practically the same.

The objects of our invention are to provide an improved method of manufacturin shoes which are to be fitted with a Wood heel and which are not sewed about the heel seat during the process of manufacture, which will avoid the necessity of the per formance of the cutting on operation by means of a hand knife, or of a cutting on machine, and which will enable the heel to be correctly set on the heel seat and to be attached by an ordinary wood heel nailing machine at a substantial saving incost of manufacture. Also to provide, in this connection an improved form of shoe resulting from said process.

Generally stated, we accomplish these objects by partly severing the margin portion of the heel part of the sole before the sole is positioned on the shoe, or last, and then completely severing said margin portion, before the heel is attached, and preferably before the sole sewing operation is performed, and by cutting through the sole at the line of the heel breast edge so as to form the shoulders against which the heel breast is to abut.

For more complete disclosure of our inportion of the sole close to the grain, or outer surface to provide a tongue, which, after the heel is attached, is cemented to the breast surface of the heel. This operation is performed before the sole is attached to ,the shoe and may be performed either previously or subsequently to the channeling operation, so far as the hereinafter described process is concerned, which will be described in connection with the manufacture of a McKay sewed shoe, although it may be performed in connection with a turn shoe having a nailed heel seat.

The first step in the performance of the process, is the operation of s litting off the tongue above referred to, an thisoperation differs from the ordinary operation only in that the cut is preferably carried somewhat further into the shank than is customary, that is, slightly beyond the point necessary to provide a tongue which will extend up onto the breast of the heel. This step is indicated in Fig. 1, in which the heel part of 00 the outer sole 1 has been split to form the tongue 2.

In performing the next step in the process, we preferab provide a special form of cutting die a, w ich is of narrow U-form, and the exact shape of which will depend somewhat on the size of the sole heel part and the size and shape of the heel base to be attached, these sizes being standardized. For a run of sizes, however, only a'comparatively 109 few sizes of cutting dies of this general shape will be necessary. The exact shape of this cutting die is not essential, that shown being adapted to form two parallel outs connected by a semi-circular cut, although the formation may correspond more exactly to the shape of the heel if desired. The exact distance betweenthe parallel portions is not essential, as will hereinafter appear. In performing the next step, the tongue of the no sole is turned back from the inner portion from which it was split, and this inner portion is placed on a cutting block and is suitably positioned with relation to the cutting die, which is operated to make a correspondingly shaped cut 3, completely through said inner portion of the sole, about its heel part, at right angles to the sole surface, and at a suitable distance from its edge, the ends of the cut preferably terminating at points slightly beyond the line in which the breast edge of the heel will be held, when the heel is in position on the shoe, as shown in Fig. 2. A relatively narrow and short heel portion 4, as compared with the heel portion of the sole, as originally rounded out, is thus provided, the edge of which is square. From this point several operations are performed which are the same as those ordinarily performed, i. e., the sole will be channeled, if it has not been previously, and the tongue 2 will be temporarily secured by cement to the surface formed when it was split from the heel part, as shown in Fig. 3. A shank stiffener 5 of suitable form will also preferably be attached to the inner side of the sole, the rear end portion being extended onto, and secured to the middle heel portion 4 and to the shank portion of the sole, as shown in Fig. 4.

The sole is then positioned on the lasted shoe and secured bytacks, as is customary, and one or more tacks may be driven through the inner heel portion 4. The tongue 2 is turned back, and the margin portion of the sole, which was partly severed by. the cut 3, is then completely severed by cutting through the sole from each edge to the end portions of the cut on the line of heel breast edge when in position, or in the position in which the usual shoulder should be formed for the particular heel which is to be applied to the shoe. In Fig. 6 the important elements of a machine is illustrated which may be employed for this purpose which will comprise a pair of centering gages I) for engaging the sides of the heel portion of the lasted shoe to hold it in a predetermined position, a thin metal bed plate 0 which is preferably of U-form corresponding to the margin portion of the sole which has been partly severed by cut 3, and is adapted to be inserted between said margin portion and the heel seat of the shoe, and a two bladed knife (Z, the blades of which are arranged in line and the space between which is equal to the width of the middle portion of the sole. When using such a machine the gages will be adjusted so that when the knife descends it will sever the margin portion at the point where the shoulder forthe heel breast should be formed. The use of the plate 0 is merely for the purpose of protecting the shoe and providing a bed for the knife to out against. By this operation the margin portion of the heel part will be completely severed and is thenentirely removed and square shoulders 6, will be formed for the heel-breast, as shown in Fig. 7. Theusual McKay sewing operation is then performed, the channel which is cut therefor emerging beneath the tongue 2, and, in performing this operation, the line of stitches 7 is extended past the shoulders 6, at each side onto the edge por-' tion of the upper, and inner sole, so that the portions of the sole which terminate in said shoulders will be securely sewed to the inner sole. v

By the above described operation, the margin portion of the sole which is removed, will be of suchwidth that, when the heel 8 is placed in position on the shoe, the concavity in the heel base will receive the middle ortion 4 of the sole, so that the edges of the ieel will bear on the shoe upper and its breast edge will bear against the shoulders 6. The heel will be attached by inside nailing in the usual manner, and the attaching nails being driven into the middle portion of the heel, as is customary. Themiddle portion 4 of the heel part of the sole extends over the portion 'of the heel seat through which the nails are driven, when the heel is attached, so that said nails will pass through said portion of the sole as shown'in Fig. 8, and the heel will be as firmly attached as if it had been fitted to the heel seat by beveling the sole edge as has previously been customary. The tongue 2 will then be cemented to the heel breast in the usual manner.

While the articular sequence of operations above described are .considered the most advantageous of any of which we are aware, it is possible to secure many of the advantages of our invention by slight variations thereof. For example, while we consider it especially advantageous to cut away and remove the margin portion of the heel prior to the sole sewing operation, so that the sole portions adjacent the shoulders 6, may be sewed down to the inner sole when the sole is attached, yet the heel breast shoulders may be formed, or the margin portion may be cut away with a hand knife subsequent to the sewing operation. This involves however, either stopping the seam before the point at which the shoulder is to be formed is reached, or cutting the stitches at this point, and also cutting any stitches which might have accidentally been formed beyond this point, with the result that the sole portion at the shoulders will not be held closely to the inner sole by the st tches.

As the sole is rounded out to the full size of the shoe bottom at the time it is positioned thereon and temporarily secured by tacks, no

difficulty is experienced in position ng the 7 position of the shoulders may be determined y placing the heel on the sole and marking the point at which the margin portion should be severed, it is now the practice to mark or number the base of the heel according to its size, when it is manufactured, so that, by observing this marking on the heel, the machine illustrated in a general way in Fig. 6, may be adjusted according to this marking, so that the margin portlon may be cut off at the required point. Also if r1 ht and left heels which have their breast e ges inclined instead of square across, are employed, the relative position of the knife and shoe positioning means may be varied to secure an oblique cut.

While the operation of forming the U- shaped cut 3 is preferably erformed on the sole before it is positione on the shoe, it

is possible to form this out after it has been tacked thereon in practically the same manner as that described in connection with the operation of severing the margin and for1ning the shoulders, and illustrated in Fig. 6. In fact it is possible tomake both the margin and shoulder cuts simultaneously with a properly constructed die; Such rearrangement of the steps of the process are considered as within the spirit and scope of our invention, but as a practical matter the particular sequence of operations before described are considered the more desirable. By employing the above describedprocess of manufacture the labor cost of producing the shoe is substantially reduced as compared with those made by ordinary methods.

We claim:

1. The method of making shoes which consists in splitting the heel portion of a shaped outer sole to form a tongue at its outer side for covering the heel breast, turning back the tongue from the inner portion of the sole from which it was split and forming an, approximately U-shaped cut through said inner portion at right angles to its surface, and at a substantial distance from the sole edge with the end portions of said out extending to the line at which the breast edge of the heel is to be located'when in position on the shoe, temporarily securing the sole in positioned relation on the upper, locating said breast edge line and cutting thereon through said inner heel portion of the sole at right angles to its surface from the opposite edges to the adjacent end portion of the cut previously formed and removing the margin portion thus severed, to permit the heel to be seated against the upper with its breast edge against the shoulders formed by said severing cuts.

2. The method of making McKay sewed tongue, at its outer side, turning back said tongue from the inner portion ofthe sole from which it was split and cutting through said inner portion about the heel part thereof at a substantial distance from its edge and extending the cut at each side thereof to the line at which the breast edge of the heel is to be located when in position on the heel seat, temporarily securing the sole in positioned relation on a lasted shoe, cutting through the inner portion of the sole from each edge on said breast'edge line to the adjacent portion of said out and removing the margin portion thus severed and then permanently attaching the sole by a seam which is extended adjacent said breast edge line.

8. The method of makin McKay shoes which consists in splitting 0% a tongue from the outer side of the heel portion of a rounded outer sole cutting through the inner portion of the sole from which the tongue was split, about the heel part thereof at a substantial distance from its edge and extending the cut at each side thereof to the line of the breast edge of the heel of the shoe when in position thereon, temporarily securing the sole in position on a lasted shoe, cutting through said inner portion of the sole along said breast edge line to the adjacent portion of the out to sever the heel part margin portion separated by said cuts, and to form heel breast shoulders. at said line, removing said margin portion to permit the heel when placed in position, to seat against the upper and to engage said shoulders and permanently attaching the outer sole by a seam which is extended about the same and is terminated at each end in the heel seat and beyond said shoulders.

4. In a McKay sewed shoe having a wood heel, a tongue extending from the outer side of the outer sole onto the breast of the heel, the heel portion of the sole beneath the heel being relatively narrow and having its edge located at a substantial distance within the margin of the heel seat to permit the heel to engage the upper at its side and back edges and said sole having square shoulders extending transversely from the front edges of said heel portion to the adjacent heel portion edges and engaged by the breast edge 'of the heel, and said sole having the attaching stitches thereof extending transversely of said shoulders onto the inner sole beneath the heel.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification.

PINCUS BRAUNER. HARRY G. CALEF. 

